Many newspapers picked up on Dmitri Medvedev’s comments regarding the British Council spat from a long interview with Itogi the other day. Now JRL has offered some translated excerpts from the report with Russia’s next president.

Itogi – No 8 – February 2008 SIMPLE TRUTHS Excerpts from an interview with Dmitry Medvedev Author: Andrei Vandenko Question: A few words on the decision to close British Council offices in Russia, please… Dmitry Medvedev: Try as I might, I cannot recall a single episode when the British government permitted Russian non- governmental organization to operate in Great Britain. I dare you try and register a Russian non-governmental organization in London. It will be a real pain. You’ll have to answer all sorts of questions, offer all sorts of explanations, and all that. Compromises are needed. You were permitted to come and work here? Fine. Just behave yourselves. It is common knowledge after all that structures like the British Council (financed as they are by the state) perform all sort of functions, some of them quite clandestine. I mean compilation of sensitive information.